A8N-SLI Premium 4 DRAM sticks issues..

Ok.. I recently got a used A8N-SLI Premium, thought as an upgrade to my AX8 which ran out of SATA ports to fund my expensive array of research data.

If anyone's willing to hear my story, here it goes...

I've been running 4 sticks on the AX8 for a LONG time and I've done memtest, Prime, Orthos and such, so I'm pretty sure the sticks are fine...

But the moment I shove it into the A8N-SLI, DDR200.. ok fine, basic bios safe setting. Dip dip, clear CMOS, set time, turn off the Yukon LAN, Onboard AC97... set DDR400 with relatively loose timings, 3-3-3-8 although I am running XL sticks..

No boot... wont even post into the default BIOS check..

Ok.. cold boot issues, turn off unplug.. restart..

Now it posts, but wont pass after memcheck..

restart again.. back to square one, wont even post into BIOS check..

Having told that there were some issues with the Premium board with a LARGE array of mem sticks, I tried to shove them around.. I bumped them around, staggered, paired.. u name it.. and If I have the XL Pro sticks into DRAM 1,2 and the XLPT into DRAM 3,4, it FINALLY post past the HDD check, but now I cant access my drive... corrupted and such..

Alright, fine.. I thought I was wrong about the sticks.. rip 2 sticks out.. et voila.. everything works.. Orthos 7 hr fine, Memtest test 5 100 cycles fine.. Tried it with my XLPT, Fine again.. But whenever I try to stick 4 sticks in to run DDR400, nothing works..

Then just for luck, I might try some other settings with 4 sticks.. Bump DRAM voltage up to 2.75V, HT 1.25 and chipset to 1.6.. Ehehe.. now it woudnt even post at all.. I can see the XLPro blinking with just 3 green bars.. crashed or something..

Alright, DDR200 then.. wtf.. booted in fine.. 2GB finally works.. then fired up Eddie Izzard since I haven't had time to watch it before.. BSOD!!

Reboot.. tried Orthos.. Core 1 failed after 2 hrs.. huh?!?!?!

OK.. before I cry myself to sleep at work..

Anyone mind telling me its got nothing to do with my luck?

<---- Oh and disregard my old 2.8Ghz overclock on my AX8, I can't even run it stable at 2.4Ghz.. forget 2.8Ghz..

:(

suppose no one's willing to help this old fella out yea?

You actually bought a new motherboard to host more hard drives? Some boards don't seem to handle a full bunch of sticks, it's just the way it is, not much you can do about it unfortunately.

You would have saved yourself time, headaches, and money just getting a 4 port SATA controller :P

Well, lets put it this way.. I already have a 3 port SATA controller.. and its already populated..

The old AX8 doesnt have enough space to carry another card (1 PCI went to the Audigy2, another went to the National Instrument data cable card).. so its down to the board sockets..

Well, you wouldnt think I'm THAT silly right?

Anything more professional to replace the Revo would be more expensive than this motherboard..

HENCE, this is my story... anyone mind chipping in some ideas?

My motherboard (same model) wouldn't accept the following when inserted together

2 x TwinMoss 512MB PC3200
2 x Geil 512MB PC3200

I haven't a clue why :(

Not much help, sorry.

well, at least i know I'm not so alone..

:)

I think it might be something to do with them not being exactly matched... S939 is very fussy with 4 stick - if it works it normally runs slower (2T cmd rate)...

You might have to get new ram... 2 x 1GB will work nicely - or you can try to exactly match one of your pairs with a new pair (this still might not work fully though)

you have tried running the 4 sticks at 2T command rate, right?

Well, I'm going to try to flash the bios to 1009 to see if it helps..

But before that I'll need to update my drivers..

so, just for kicks.. whats the best way to remove and install new Nforce drivers?

Do I uninstall them 1st?

or can I just write on top of the old one?

SLI Premium? Maybe I'm wrong but I thought the BIOS was up to around 1016, or 1017 beta.

Add Remove programs...but it wont help

If your mobo throws a dicky fit with that ram you've got less than 50/50 chance of it running ,.

BIOS update much more likely to help :)

A8N-SLI Premium is quite fuzzy about ram, not much you can do about it TBH. If 2T option doesn't work you'll have to switch to 2x1G.

I had 4x512M able to run at DDR300 when I was using that board, with 2x512M DDR500 was not a problem.

If you want more port, try buying a LSI SAS(SATA) card or Highpoint card from SCAN, alternatively 3Ware cards from ebay :)